هنر درمانی: نشانه هایی برای درمان انتخابی

For many years now there has been a worldwide tendency towards ever increasing health service costs, a phenomenon that also includes mental health services. In order to cope with the ever greater scarcity of funds, art therapists must define more accurately the patient population for whom expressive therapy is likely to be most effective. When the question is approached as to whether art therapy is the treatment of choice for a particular patient, it is often necessary to confer with colleagues from other disciplines involved in the referral. This dialogue requires a common language with regard to definitions of mental health disorders in the patient. The most common diagnostic tools for mental disorders in present use are the descriptive classification systems, such as Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Assocation, 1994) and ICD-10 (World Health Organization, 1992). These tools are aimed at enabling as accurate a distinction as possible between the variety of syndromes of emotional disorders. The descriptive classification system divides the pathology of emotional states into a large number of distinct syndromes.